Nov. 11, 1999

NC State Professor Honored by N.C. Science Teachers' Association

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

One of North Carolina State University’s most distinguished environmental researchers and teachers, Dr. Robert I. Bruck of Cary, has received a 1999 North Carolina Science Teachers’ Association (NCSTA) Distinguished Service to Science Education Award.

The Distinguished Service Award honors an individual who has "served North Carolina science education and its teachers above and beyond the basic job requirements." Bruck received the award Thursday, Nov.11, at the NCSTA Conference in Greensboro.

Internationally respected for his pioneering research on the effects of air pollution on North Carolina mountain ecosystems, Bruck is a professor of plant pathology and forestry at NC State, serves as director of the NC State Institute for Environmental Technology and Education, and is a Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Research, Outreach and Extension.

He has played an integral part of the creation and maintenance of Sci-Link and Globe Net, two research and outreach programs designed to arouse scientific and environmental awareness in both educators and students by turning research findings into hands-on experiential learning activities. Bruck also is credited with the creation of two multidisciplinary courses that combine a semester-long study of a particular region with a field trip at semester’s end, during which students gain a first-hand knowledge of the material covered.

In 1995 Bruck was honored as Air Conservationist of the Year by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. That same year, he was named a Pew Foundation Environmental Scholar and his documentary on global air quality, "The Search for Clean Air," won the 1995 Golden Eagle Award for best documentary, the nation’s highest award presented to non-theatrical pictures. In 1996, he was selected as the National Biographical Institute’s Man of the Year. In 1997, he was named the North Carolina Sierra Club’s Environmental Hero of the Decade and was awarded the North Carolina Medal of Science.

Bruck received his bachelor’s degree in biology from the State University of New York College at Buffalo, where he also received a doctoral degree in forest pathology and phytopathology. He earned a second doctoral degree in forestry from Syracuse University.

--harrington--

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